Liverpool edges City to take control in title race

Liverpool, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Philippe Coutinho's goal 12 minutes from time moved Liverpool a step closer to its first league title in 24 years as the Reds claimed a 3-2 victory over title rivals Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.

Liverpool dominated the first half and took a two-goal lead into halftime as
both Raheem Sterling and Martin Skrtel found the net.

However, City fought back after the break to level the match at 2-2 with a
goal from David Silva before Glen Johnson's own goal pulled the teams level.

But the decisive moment came 12 minutes from time when an awful clearance from
City's Vincent Kompany handed the ball to Coutinho, allowing him to fire home
the winning goal.

Liverpool holds a two-point advantage on second-place Chelsea at the top of
the league, while City now trails by seven points with two games in hand.

The match couldn't have started any better for the home side as Sterling put
them in front inside of six minutes by latching on to a nice ball from Luis
Suarez and eluding a defender before curling his shot inside the right post.

City was back on its heels after the goal and Liverpool added another in the
26th minute through Skrtel, whose flicked header at the near post from a
Steven Gerrard corner kick found its way past goalkeeper Joe Hart.

The second half saw City begin to make their way back into the match and Silva
pulled a goal back in the 57th when he redirected a low cross from substitute
James Milner into the net.

Five minutes later, City was level as Silva worked his way into the penalty
area and saw his attempted cross take a deflection off of Johnson on its way
past goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

The visitors were having their way by this time and they nearly took the lead
when Silva narrowly missed the right post following a nice ball from Sergio
Aguero.

That miss proved costly for City as Liverpool was handed the lead by Kompany's
terrible clearance 12 minutes with time with Coutinho dispatching the winner
that leaves Liverpool four wins from the title.

Chelsea 1, Swansea City 0

Swansea, Wales - Chelsea stayed within two points of Premiership leaders
Liverpool on Sunday thanks to a second-half goal from Demba Ba in a 1-0
Chelsea win over 10-man Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

The Swans were forced to play the final 75 minutes with 10 men after Chico
Flores was sent off for receiving a second yellow card after a foul on Andre
Schurrle.

And despite a determined effort from the home side, they were unable to keep
Chelsea out, leaving the club three points clear of the relegation places.

Both Ba and Samuel Eto'o wasted good chances for Chelsea early in the second
half, but the breakthrough finally came in the 68th minute when Ba brought
down a long ball from Nemanja Matic and fired a left-footed shot underneath
Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm from the edge of the penalty area.